Offsetting environmental impact of electronic transactions

ABSTRACT

The environmental impact of various transactions can be reduced or offset by determining the impact of various shipping and packaging options, and providing these options to customers. Customers then have the ability to select options that reduce the environmental impact of each transaction. A customer also can purchase environmental offsets to offset the determined impact. Customers can be provided with environmental impact information determined or tracked for each item viewed by the customer, such that each customer can be informed of the additional impact of each individual when making a selection. The selections and/or actions of a customer can be tracked such that environmentally friendly options and suggestions can be provided for subsequent transactions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/888,139, entitled “Environmentally Conscious TransactionDeterminations,” filed Sep. 22, 1010, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/425,330, entitled “EnvironmentallyConscious Electronic Transactions,” filed Apr. 16, 2009, now issued U.S.Pat. No. 7,813,970, and is related to co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/236,136, filed Sep. 23, 2008, entitled “OffsettingEnvironmental Effects of Computing,” and co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/236,160, filed Sep. 23, 2008, entitled“Automatically Minimizing Environmental Effects of Computing,” each ofwhich is hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety forall purposes.

BACKGROUND

As environmental conditions are becoming increasingly of concern to thegeneral population, an increasing amount of attention is being paid tothe environmental impact of various activities. Accordingly, moreattention is being focused on the environmental impact of themanufacture, purchase, and disposal of goods and services. For example,emissions are introduced into the atmosphere through the delivery ofitems from a warehouse or other location. Further, there typically arepackaging materials used for the delivery that may not be biodegradable,and thus introduce an amount of landfill volume into the environment.The goods or services themselves also have an environmental impact, asthere generally is an amount of material used for an item that might notbe biodegradable, there often is electricity required to produce an itemthat introduces additional emissions into the environment, etc.

Some companies have moved to lessen the environmental impact by usingrecyclable materials for packaging and/or shipping. Many deliverycompanies have also attempted to optimize the routes and vehicles usedfor shipping in order to reduce the amount of fuel needed for delivery.Other companies have placed warehouses in distributed locations in orderto reduce the overall length of an average delivery route.

While these and other options might be provided by various companies,among other potential deficiencies, there often is little control givento the customer as to which options the customer would prefer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will bedescribed with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an environment in which various embodiments can beimplemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates an interface providing a customer with variousshipping and packaging options that can be used in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates an interface providing a customer with environmentalimpact information for a shipping option that can be used in accordancewith one embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a process for providing environmentally consciousshipping options that can be used in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates an interface allowing a user to sort items byenvironmental information that can be used in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates an interface displaying environmental information foran item that can be used in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates an interface for comparing impact information foritems that can be used in accordance with one embodiment; and

FIG. 8 illustrates an interface providing overall environmental impactinformation for a user that can be used in accordance with oneembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments of thepresent disclosure may overcome one or more the aforementioned and otherdeficiencies experienced in conventional approaches to determiningand/or managing the environmental impact of various aspects oftransactions in an electronic environment. Systems and methods inaccordance with various embodiments determine information about theenvironmental impact of various shipping and packaging methods, andprovide a customer with options to reduce the environmental impact ofsuch activities. Approaches in accordance with some embodiments alsoobtain information about the environmental impact of specific items,such that a potential customer can utilize this information whendeciding amongst various items for consumption. Various embodiments alsoenable a customer to purchase environmental credits or offsets in orderto compensate for the determined impact of any transaction. Variousother environmentally-friendly options and aspects are provided incertain embodiments as discussed and suggested later herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an environment 100 for implementingaspects in accordance with various embodiments. As will be appreciated,although a Web-based environment is used for purposes of explanation,different environments may be used, as appropriate, to implement variousembodiments. The environment 100 shown includes both a testing ordevelopment portion (or side) and a production portion. The productionportion includes an electronic client device 102, which can include anyappropriate device operable to send and receive requests, messages, orinformation over an appropriate network 104 and convey information backto a user of the device. Examples of such client devices includepersonal computers, cell phones, handheld messaging devices, laptopcomputers, set-top boxes, personal data assistants, electronic bookreaders, and the like. The network can include any appropriate network,including an intranet, the Internet, a cellular network, a local areanetwork, or any other such network or combination thereof. Componentsused for such a system can depend at least in part upon the type ofnetwork and/or environment selected. Protocols and components forcommunicating via such a network are well known and will not bediscussed herein in detail. Communication over the network can beenabled by wired or wireless connections, and combinations thereof. Inthis example, the network includes the Internet, as the environmentincludes a Web server 106 for receiving requests and serving content inresponse thereto, although for other networks an alternative deviceserving a similar purpose could be used as would be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art.

The illustrative environment includes at least one application server108 and a data store 110. It should be understood that there can beseveral application servers, layers, or other elements, processes, orcomponents, which may be chained or otherwise configured, which caninteract to perform tasks such as obtaining data from an appropriatedata store. As used herein the term “data store” refers to any device orcombination of devices capable of storing, accessing, and retrievingdata, which may include any combination and number of data servers,databases, data storage devices, and data storage media, in anystandard, distributed, or clustered environment. The application servercan include any appropriate hardware and software for integrating withthe data store as needed to execute aspects of one or more applicationsfor the client device, handling a majority of the data access andbusiness logic for an application. The application server providesaccess control services in cooperation with the data store, and is ableto generate content such as text, graphics, audio, and/or video to betransferred to the user, which may be served to the user by the Webserver in the form of HTML, XML, or another appropriate structuredlanguage in this example. The handling of all requests and responses, aswell as the delivery of content between the client device 102 and theapplication server 108, can be handled by the Web server. It should beunderstood that the Web and application servers are not required and aremerely example components, as structured code discussed herein can beexecuted on any appropriate device or host machine as discussedelsewhere herein. Further, the environment can be architected in such away that a test automation framework can be provided as a service towhich a user or application can subscribe. A test automation frameworkcan be provided as an implementation of any of the various testingpatterns discussed herein, although various other implementations can beused as well, as discussed or suggested herein.

The environment also includes a development and/or testing side, whichincludes a user device 118 allowing a user such as a developer, dataadministrator, or tester to access the system. The user device 118 canbe any appropriate device or machine, such as is described above withrespect to the client device 102. The environment also includes adevelopment server 120, which functions similar to the applicationserver 108 but typically runs code during development and testing beforethe code is deployed and executed on the production side and isaccessible to outside users, for example. In some embodiments, anapplication server can function as a development server, and separateproduction and testing storage may not be used.

The data store 110 can include several separate data tables, databases,or other data storage mechanisms and media for storing data relating toa particular aspect. For example, the data store illustrated includesmechanisms for storing production data 112 and user information 116,which can be used to serve content for the production side. The datastore also is shown to include a mechanism for storing testing data 114,which can be used with the user information for the testing side. Itshould be understood that there can be many other aspects that may needto be stored in the data store, such as for page image information andaccess right information, which can be stored in any of the above listedmechanisms as appropriate or in additional mechanisms in the data store110. The data store 110 is operable, through logic associated therewith,to receive instructions from the application server 108 or developmentserver 120, and obtain, update, or otherwise process data in responsethereto. In one example, a user might submit a search request for acertain type of item. In this case, the data store might access the userinformation to verify the identity of the user, and can access thecatalog detail information to obtain information about items of thattype. The information then can be returned to the user, such as in aresults listing on a Web page that the user is able to view via abrowser on the user device 102. Information for a particular item ofinterest can be viewed in a dedicated page or window of the browser.

Each server typically will include an operating system that providesexecutable program instructions for the general administration andoperation of that server, and typically will include a computer-readablemedium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of theserver, allow the server to perform its intended functions. Suitableimplementations for the operating system and general functionality ofthe servers are known or commercially available, and are readilyimplemented by persons having ordinary skill in the art, particularly inlight of the disclosure herein.

The environment in one embodiment is a distributed computing environmentutilizing several computer systems and components that areinterconnected via communication links, using one or more computernetworks or direct connections. However, it will be appreciated by thoseof ordinary skill in the art that such a system could operate equallywell in a system having fewer or a greater number of components than areillustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, the depiction of the system 100 in FIG. 1should be taken as being illustrative in nature, and not limiting to thescope of the disclosure.

An environment such as that described with respect to FIG. 1 can be usedto provide items for consumption by potential customers. As used herein,the term “item” can refer to anything, such as a product, service, orsystem, that can be ordered, purchased, rented, used, transferred, orotherwise consumed and/or accessed via a network request or electronicsubmission as part of an electronic transaction. A request can includeany appropriate request sent over an appropriate system or network, suchas a request submitted to a Web page over the Internet or a message sentvia a messaging system to a content provider, for example.

A content provider, such as a provider of an electronic marketplace, maytrack various aspects of, and metrics for, the use of a site or otherinterface to the marketplace, for purposes such as cost and efficiency.As environmental concerns mount, these concerns will take a larger rolein the decision process that consumers use when selecting items forconsumption. It thus can be desirable to extend the metrics and/oraspects that are tracked by such systems. These metrics can include, forexample, environmental factors such as carbon burden, landfill volume,biodegradable content, recyclable material, and noise pollution. Each ofthese factors is measurable, and can be derived from a combination ofdata that is already being tracked, as well as additional data. Trackingsuch information can provide not only additional ways to monitor costand efficiency, but also to monitor the environmental impact of variousoperations, and provide this information to customers. Enablingcustomers to make informed decisions relating to environmental concerns,versus making decisions from retailers or other providers without suchinformation, can provide a significant competitive advantage.

In one embodiment, the additional data used to track such metrics fallsinto at least two categories: conversion factors for new dimensions tobe tracked for existing data (e.g., landfill volume for various types ofpacking material) and the obtaining of additional data that is notcurrently tracked (e.g., package delivery route miles for a particulartransaction). Each conversion factor can be determined initially, asthese factors typically will not change substantially over time. Forexample, the landfill volume of a particular cardboard box can bedetermined once, and that volume will remain substantially fixed as longas the type and size of box does not change. Further, the carbon burdenper kilowatt-hour for a given power plant will vary through the year andover time, but the burden will not have to be evaluated for every KW-hrconsumed. Likewise, the average fuel efficiency and carbon burden of adelivery vehicle will likely be near constant. Much of the new data,however, will vary on a per-item basis or a per-shipment basis.

Information pertaining to these metrics can be presented to customers invarious fashions at various locations and times, such as during itemdiscovery (e.g. searching, browsing, etc.) and at various points in anorder pipeline for an electronic marketplace. Information relating to aspecific item or group of items can be displayed on a page specific toan item, such as on an item detail page. This can include, for example,displaying the landfill volume and amount of non-biodegradable materialfor an item a customer is viewing. Presented with this information,customers can choose between products based at least in part upon thesedimensions, a capability lacking in offerings from other conventionalproviders and/or systems. Further, features relating to a given ordercan be displayed in a virtual shopping cart page or any otherappropriate display near the end of the ordering portion of atransaction. For example, a customer can see the carbon burden forvarious shipping and/or delivery types for the order, a landfill volumeof the packing material required, or other such information. In someembodiments, certain information can be displayed to help the customerduring the decision process. For example, a customer can be providedwith calculated carbon burden, noise pollution, and other suchinformation that would result if that customer were to purchase eachitem in the order from a physical or “brick and mortar” store. Customersthen can see how much environmental impact will result from shoppingelectronically versus a brick and mortar store (or other acquisitionoptions).

In an example in accordance with one embodiment, a customer of anelectronic marketplace is able to send requests from a client device 102over a network 104 that are received by an application server 108 toallow the customer to browse items offered by an electronic marketplace.Using any of a variety of methods known or used in the art, the customeris able to search for and browse any items offered by the marketplace.The customer can be presented with any appropriate information availablefor each item, and can determine which items the user would like toconsume by placing a quantity of the item in a virtual shopping cart orother repository for items the customer intends to consume. When thecustomer is finished selecting items for a given transaction, thecustomer can be presented with an interface allowing the customer toselect various options for the transaction.

It should be understood that various approaches exist within the scopeof the various embodiments. For example, a customer can be enabled toselect options before, during, or after items are selected for atransaction. For example, a user can specify to always use a certaintype of shipping or packaging, or to favor a certain type ofenvironmental factor. Thus, when the user is ready to complete thetransaction, these shipping and/or packaging options can be provided bydefault. The user can, however, have the option to change these settingsfor specific transactions. In situations where a user only selects asingle element (or small number of selectable elements) to complete atransaction, the system can utilize the options previously specified bythe customer to complete the transaction without requiring entry of theinformation or selection of the options during the transaction.Advantages and features of various embodiments can be provided in suchsituations as well.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of such an interface 200 that can begenerated for display to a customer during a transaction in accordancewith one embodiment. In this example, a customer has added three itemsto a virtual shopping cart. Information for each of these items isdisplayed to the customer. In this embodiment, a customer must alsospecify or accept various shipping options before completing theordering portion of the transaction. While the term “shipping” will beused throughout sections of the description for purposes of simplicity,it should be understood that any appropriate shipping or deliveryapproach can be used within the scope of the various embodiments. Forexample, items of digital content may be delivered via electronictransmission (e.g., over an Internet, intranet, or cellular connection)rather than traditional vehicle-based shipping approaches. Althoughthese and/or other options can be provided at various points asdiscussed and suggested herein, the present example provides optionsrelating to both shipping and packaging.

A first set of options 202 is displayed that allows the user to specifya type of shipping to be used for the transaction. In this example, auser can be presented with a number of conventional shipping options,such as standard shipping, two-day shipping, and overnight shipping. Auser also can be presented with at least one other option specifyingthat an environmentally-friendly shipping option should be used. An“environmentally-friendly” or similar shipping option can be defined inany of a number of different ways, and a display such as that of FIG. 2can provide an option for a customer to view information about why thatshipping option is considered to be an environmentally conscious option.

In one example, two-day shipping might require the goods to be sent byplane to a major airport in relative proximity to the customer, andstandard shipping might require a major shipping company to transportthe item(s) by tractor trailer. A customer can be presented with ashipping option that might not be as fast, and might be more expensive,but that is more environmentally friendly in at least one way. Forexample, an environmentally friendly option might use a smaller shippingcompany that takes advantage of hybrid or hydrogen-powered vehicles, orthat places items onto vehicles with empty space that are alreadyscheduled for a particular route. Another option might be one thatalways uses low-emission vehicles, but that may make several stops alongthe way and thus might take more time. Some companies might onlytransfer items at night, or avoid routes through major cities, such thattraffic would be lighter and the effect on air quality will be lessened.In some cases, a shipping company might hold a shipping vehicle at acertain location until a minimum percentage or other threshold amount ofthe vehicle is filled, in order to maximize the use of space andminimize the number of necessary trips, thus reducing the amount of fuelneeded and the overall amount of emissions. Any of a number of othersuch approaches can be included as discussed or suggested herein.

In some cases, the company or provider of the marketplace, etc., willdecide upon an environmentally friendly option, and provide that optionto customers. In other cases, the provider might offer several differentoptions from which a user can choose. For example, a customer mightselect an option to always use delivery mechanisms with hybrid vehicleswhen available. Another customer might select to have an item ship onlywhen there will otherwise be wasted space on an existing route, suchthat the additional impact on the environment is negligible.

Another set of options 204 can be provided to a customer that allows theuser to specify how the item(s) are to be packaged, which typically willbe of importance when more than one item is ordered. For example, acustomer can be provided with conventional options such as to ship allitems together when they are available, or to ship the items separatelyas the items become available. Another option can be provided thatindicates that the items should be shipped to minimize the environmentalimpact. There can be a number of ways to reduce the environmental impactof shipping a group of items.

For example, a first option might be to reduce the total number ofpackages shipped at different times, thus reducing the number of tripsrequired. Another option might reduce the overall volume of thepackaging, such that more packages can fit on a given delivery vehicle.Another option might be to group items to minimize the amount ofpackaging material needed. For example, three items might fit into asingle box, but depending on the shape, size, composition, and/or volumeof those items relative to the box there might need to be substantiallymore packaging material (e.g., peanuts) used for a single box than fortwo or three boxes. Also, boxes or other containers of certain sizesmight be available that are made of recycled and/or biodegradablematerial, and an option can be to group items to favor use of thesecontainers. The impact information can be updated and displayed witheach additional item added to an order after the new packagingrequirements are determined for the selected shipping method. Further,combinations of the shipping and packaging options can be analyzed todetermine more accurate impact information and/or options. For example,selecting a certain type of packaging material might reduce the impactwith respect to packaging, but might cause the item to have to bedelivered on a different vehicle or using a different delivery approachsuch that the net environmental impact for the item actually increases,even though the customer was trying to reduce the impact. Thus, acombination with the lowest overall impact might not actually use thelowest impact shipping and/or packaging method.

A system in accordance with one embodiment further improves the overallaccuracy of these shipping determinations by obtaining information abouteach type of item when one of those items enters a warehouse or othersuch location. Oftentimes, information from a manufacturer or provideris not entirely accurate. The overall size, weight, dimensions,materials, and other such aspects can actually differ from what islisted by a manufacturer or provider of a given item. Thus, accuracy ofpackaging and impact information can be improved by obtaining actualinformation for these items. For example, when a shipment of items comesin, at least one of each type of item can be weighed, measured, scanned,or otherwise analyzed to obtain easily determined objective information.In some cases, at least one of the items might also or alternatively be“pulled” from the shipment and provided in some way to a human user, whocan determine at least one aspect of the item, such as whether the itemappears to match description information for the item.

As part of the same option, or as a separate option 206, a customer canalso specify to use environmentally friendly materials, even atadditional cost to the customer. For example, a customer can specify toonly use recycled and/or biodegradable materials to package the items.The customer also can have the ability to select packaging materialsthat were made in an environmentally friendly facility, such as afacility run using clean energy sources such as, but not limited to,solar or hydroelectric power. Also, a customer can have the ability toselect materials made from trees grown on tree farms for the purposes ofmaking packaging materials as opposed to natural forests, etc. Variousother such options exist. As discussed above, in some cases a companycan decide which packaging to use and/or offer to its customers. Acustomer also can specify to minimize packing material. While such anapproach might not be desirable for a fragile object, if the customerorders a sweater or other non-breakable item then the customer canrequest that the item be shipping using less packing material, such as abiodegradable pouch instead of a box with packaging material inside.

Even when a customer attempts to limit the environmental impact,however, there still will be some impact due to the transaction. Anapproach in accordance with one embodiment provides a customer with theoption 208 to purchase environmental credits necessary to offset atleast some of the effects of the transaction. For example, based on theshipping and packaging options selected for the items to be shipped orotherwise provided, a total amount of carbon grams that will begenerated 210, or other impact information, can be calculated and/ordisplayed to the user. A user can have the option of offsetting thisamount, and/or other appropriate amounts, in order for the transactionto be essentially zero impact for at least one aspect. Given the impactinformation, a customer also can take the information and handle theimpact as the user sees fit.

In one example, a customer can select an option to, directly orindirectly, buy “carbon credits” to offset the impact. Carbon credits ingeneral are “units” that can be purchased to offset the release ofcarbon that can have a negative impact on the environment. Environmentalcredits are similarly available for other such emissions, such as ozone,hydrocarbons, carbon compounds, nitrous oxide, etc. Many companiesoffering such carbon credits perform activities that reduce theintroduction of these emissions into the environment, and then apportionthe costs over the amount of reduction. For example, a company mightplant a certain number of trees, prevent a coal-burning plant from beingbuilt instead of a hydroelectric power plant, recover methane gas from afarm for use instead of fossil fuel, utilize carbon capturing chemicals,provide environmentally-friendly products to be used in place ofhighly-polluting products, or any of a number of other such activities.The costs, effectiveness, and other such factors may be subject to someamount of speculation, but users can be provided with options that allowthem to select which type of carbon credits to be purchased.

In an example where customers can view a history of their transactions,each customer also can also be notified of the corresponding“environmental footprint.” A customer might decide to purchase offsetswhen the net impact reaches a certain level. While the customer can havethe ability to purchase these credits through the provider, marketplace,etc., the user also can have the option of obtaining these offsetsindependently and inputting the information confirming or tracking thepurchase of those offsets into the system. For example, a customer mightbuy offsets from a third party and input information for the offsetsinto the system in order to keep track of the net impact of thetransactions over time. In some embodiments, a customer might also beable to enter information such as each tree a customer plants, or anyother action the customer takes to reduce environmental pollution. Thisprovides the customer with some way to track the customer's overallimpact, even though the tracking mechanism has no impact on thetransaction or direct benefit to the electronic marketplace. Suchfunctionality can serve a business purpose for the provider of themarketplace, however, as customers can be more likely to purchase fromthat marketplace so they can ensure they are minimizing the impact orfootprint resulting from their transactions. Thus, the amount of trafficto the marketplace and resulting purchases can increase accordingly.

As discussed above, aspects that make something “eco-friendly” can becontroversial, such that it can be desirable to provide a customer withthe information used to make the determination. FIG. 3 illustrates anexample interface 300 wherein a user selects an option to viewinformation regarding the “eco-friendly” shipping option. In thisexample, a pop-up or modal window 302 is displayed, although new pages,frames, or other types of displays can be presented as well. The windowin this case includes information that can be determined for thespecific order, based on information such as the location of thecustomer and stock of items in the order.

For example, an algorithm can be used that takes into account theshipping destination for each item, as well as the available locationsfrom which each item can ship, type of locations from which the item isavailable, possible delivery routes and mechanisms, and/or any othersuch information. The algorithm can then calculate environmental impactinformation for the various inputs, and determine a shipping approachthat minimizes at least one environmental factor, such as the amount ofcarbon reduction by using the determined shipping approach as opposed toa standard or other shipping approach. A user then can view the amountof impact reduction versus the additional shipping cost, as well asinformation about the reduction, and determine whether to use theeco-friendly option. Even when the reduction is not significant, acustomer still might prefer to use hybrid vehicles or might have othersuch preferences.

Such a system also can track other metrics, such as the distance that anitem travels from the manufacturer to any given warehouse. It is quitepossible that warehouse A might be closer to the customer than warehouseB, but the total distance from the manufacturer to the customer mightactually be shorter via warehouse B. Further, there may be other aspectssuch as warehouse B being along a major rail route and warehouse Arequiring truck transportation through a mountainous region, such thatthe overall impact of selecting items from warehouse B can be less thanfrom warehouse A. Various other aspects can be accounted for and figuredinto the options and/or presented to the customer.

As mentioned briefly above, another algorithm can be used that cancompare the impact of shopping electronically versus buying the item ina traditional “brick and mortar” store. For example, the algorithm canuse the customer's address and/or the shipping address to determinenearby locations from which the customer could purchase each item ifdriving to the store and purchasing the item. In one embodiment, thealgorithm can determine the nearest store (by way of driving mileage)with the item in stock, can use information such as the type of car thecustomer drives (if the customer has input such information) or anaverage type of vehicle, can compare the impact of the customer drivingto the store and back, and can compare this with the impact frompurchasing electronically to provide an overall impact reduction frompurchasing electronically. In other embodiments, the algorithm can lookto more typical buying patterns, such as a customer driving to 2-3nearby stores before finding an item of desire in stock, in the rightsize, etc., and calculating the average impact reduction by purchasingelectronically. For example, if a customer is looking for an item ofclothing then the user might have to drive, on average, to the threenearest retailers to find an item that meets the customer's criteria.The algorithm can determine three nearby retailers, determine theimpact, and then compare the impact with the impact of buyingelectronically and provide this information to the customer. In someembodiments, a mapping program might be used to calculate the best routeto each of the selected stores, and the routes can be displayed to thecustomer along with the total impact information. In some embodiments, acustomer might also be able to specifically input or select nearbystores at which the customer typically would shop for any particularcategory of items. Such information can be used to more accuratelypredict the impact and/or savings by purchasing electronically versuswhat the customer would otherwise likely do.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a process 400 taking advantage of suchfunctionality and information that can be used to enable a customer todetermine and/or adjust the environmental impact of an electronictransaction in accordance with one embodiment. In this example 400, arequest for at least one item is received for a customer 402. Asdiscussed above, this can take the form of a request submitted when acustomer adds an item to a virtual shopping cart, for example. Adetermination can be made as to the address to which each item is to beshipped, as well as a location from which each item is available to ship404. Using the address, location, and availability information, amongother appropriate information, available shipping and/or packagingoptions for the order can be determined 406. These can include, forexample, shipping options based on time or type of shipment, and/orpackaging options for the various items. For each shipping and/orpackaging option, information relating to a corresponding environmentalimpact can be determined 408. As discussed, this can take advantage ofinformation such as shipping distance, type of shipping vehicle, type ofpackaging material, and any other appropriate information discussed orsuggested elsewhere herein. The determined shipping and/or packagingoptions and impact information then can be presented to the customer410. In this example, the customer may not yet be done shopping 412, orthere may yet be items to be added for the transaction, such that atleast one other request for an item can be received 414 and the optionsand impact information can be recalculated and/or updated to include thenew selection of items. Once all items for the transaction have beenadded (or during the process in some embodiments), a shipping and/orpackaging option is received from the customer 416. In some embodiments,a customer must specify a setting for each option, while in otherembodiments there can be default values that will be applied unless acustomer selects otherwise. When all the shipping and/or packagingoptions are specified to the customer's satisfaction, a confirmation canbe received from the customer for the order 418. This can be a result ofthe customer selecting an order submit selection or similar option, forexample. Once the customer has confirmed the order, the order can besubmitted for processing 420. As discussed, there can be severaladditional and/or alternative steps that can be used with these or fewersteps in any appropriate order, in accordance with various embodiments.For example, a customer can be provided with options to purchaseoffsets, compare impact information for various items, requestadditional information for shipping options, etc.

In addition to minimizing the impact of shipping, packaging, or othersuch aspects relating to a transaction, a customer also might like tominimize the impact resulting from the actual items selected forconsumption. For example, a user might prefer to purchase items that aremore environmentally friendly than other items. In many cases, acustomer might not be able to easily tell how much of an impact orfootprint that any given item might have. There also is no easy way fora customer to compare or sort products by their environmental impact orother such factors.

Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments obtain andtrack environmental impact and/or similar information about itemsoffered for consumption. Maintaining such information allows users toperform functions such as search for items by specific types ofinformation, sort by environmental impact data, compare the impact ofvarious items, and other such information. Offering environmental impactinformation and related functionality also can help to obtain goodrelations and provide positive marketing material for a provider of suchinformation.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an interface 500 that can be used toallow a customer searching or browsing for an item to sort items basedon environmental information in accordance with one embodiment. In afirst embodiment, a user might be able to use a user-selectable optionor element 502 to sort items by the environmental information available.For example, a first approach involves showing only items for whichenvironmental impact information is available, or at least showing allsuch items before, or more prominently than, any other items. In oneembodiment, any item with environmental information available can havean icon 504 or other indicia of such information being available forthat item. In some embodiments, this icon can be selectable by a usersuch that the environmental information can be displayed by a userselecting, hovering a cursor over, or otherwise interacting with theelement. Another approach involves sorting by the amount of informationavailable. For example, if one item has information about the carbonfootprint, landfill volume, and amount of recycled material, then thatitem might appear higher or prominently in the results than another itemwith less information, even though the other item might actually be moreenvironmentally friendly.

Another approach enables users to sort by any objective criteria, suchas carbon footprint, landfill volume, the delivery impact from themanufacturer of the item to a current warehouse or other storagefacility (including information such as distance and fuel consumption),and the operational impact of the item (such as the average powerconsumption of the item over a given period of time). Such informationcan be obtained by the manufacturer, or more advantageously provided bya neutral party for purposes of consistency and accuracy. Otherapproaches can allow a user to sort by overall “environmentallyfriendliness.” Such an approach can be controversial, however, as suchcriteria can be extremely subjective and can harm relationships withmanufacturers of specific items. In many systems, it can be desirable toenable a user to compare the available information and make anindependent decision.

As mentioned, a user can be provided with the available environmentalimpact information for any item of interest for which that informationis available. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of an interface page 600,such as an item detail page, wherein at least some of the environmentalimpact information is displayed to the customer. The information 602 canbe provided in any appropriate form and manner, such as a paragraph orbullet list. In some embodiments, each piece of information is storedseparately in a data store, such that the environmental information canbe assembled dynamically in response to a request, enabling theinformation to be as current as possible. Such functionality alsoenables the maintaining of such information to be scalable and flexible,while also avoiding the need for a user to create specific text orparagraphs of information for each item. In one embodiment, a set oftemplates is provided that can be filled in with the appropriateenvironmental information.

In some embodiments, customer preferences can be saved and/or tracked inorder to recommend certain items to a customer. For example, if acustomer has indicated that the customer prefers items that areenvironmentally friendly, the customer chooses environmentally friendlyshipping options, or if the customer tends to view and/or purchase itemsthat are environmentally friendly, then when that customer views adetail page for an item such as is shown in FIG. 6, such environmentallyfriendly information can be input to an algorithm or process fordetermining aspects of the page. For example, a featured offer for theitem can be based at least in part upon the environmental informationavailable for each item or offer eligible to be featured. For example,if an item is offered from three providers, the offer selected to befeatured on the page can be selected based on factors such as where theprovider is located with respect to the customer and how the providerships the item, such that even for identical items a customer can chooseto purchase from the provider which is most environmentally friendly. Inother cases, similar items 604 can be suggested to the customer on adetail page, for example, where those items might be moreenvironmentally friendly in at least one aspect, or where ecologicalimpact information is available such that the customer can make aninformed decision. Such approaches may not result in the highest amountof profit for a provider of the marketplace, for example, for any givenitem, but offering items that are more likely to be purchased by acustomer can help to improve marketing, good will, and the number ofimpressions, each of which can help to improve the overall level ofbusiness and/or transactions.

In order to allow a customer to more easily compare items, system andmethods in accordance with various embodiments can enable users todirectly compare selected items based upon the available environmentalinformation. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an interface page 700wherein a customer has sent a request to compare two specific items.Methods for selecting items to compare, such as by clicking a radiobutton or checkbox next to each item, are known in the art and will notbe discussed herein in detail. As shown in the interface page 700, animage or other identifying information for each item is displayed, alongwith available environmental impact information for each item. In thisexample, both items are shown to be Energy Star compliant, but only oneis shown to include recyclable material. This can be a result of theother item either not including recyclable material, or there not beinginformation available that there is recyclable material in the item.Other ways can be used for such designation as should be apparent, suchas by using “N/A” if there is no information available or if thecriterion is not applicable, or using an “X” if the item does notcontain recyclable material, for example. Other criteria such aslandfill volume and carbon footprint can display the actual values,where available. In some embodiments, the customer can select on acriteria, such as the carbon footprint heading 702, which can cause thetable or other grouping of information to be sorted by that criterion.In one embodiment, selecting the heading once sorts the data by carbonfootprint in a descending order, while selecting again sorts in anascending order. In other embodiments, an arrow or other symbol orelement can be used to specify the sort order. Many other such interfaceapproaches can be used as known or used in the art.

As discussed, a customer can be provided with the ability to purchaseoffsets through the system, or purchase offsets independently and inputthat information into the system. In this way, a customer can track theoverall net impact of that customer's transactions. FIG. 8 illustratesan example of an interface page 800 that can be used to display suchinformation to a customer in accordance with one embodiment. In thisexample, the customer is provided with a total amount of carbon 802determined to be introduced into the environment in response to thecustomer's transactions, including manufacture, shipping, packaging,returns, and any other related information. As should be apparent, anyother such impact information can be tracked and displayed to thecustomer as well. The customer also can be presented with information804 representing the number or amount of offsets purchased by thecustomer that have been applied against the transactions. The customerthen also can be presented with the net carbon footprint 806 (carbonproduced minus offsets) of that customer as a result of thetransactions. A customer might also be presented with an option on sucha page to purchase additional offsets to reduce the total impact.

A customer also can be presented, on the same page or a different page,with information relating to environmental options to be used as defaultvalues applied to each transaction. For example, a first option 808enables a customer to specify a default option for shipping and/orpackaging. In this example, the customer can specify whether to, bydefault, select the environmentally friendly shipping option, theenvironmentally friendly packaging option, neither, or both. Anotheroption 810 enables a customer to specify when and how to purchaseoffsets for the various transactions. In this example, a customer canspecify to purchase offsets as they are needed for each transaction,when a certain threshold is met, or in specific quantities at certaintimes.

Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments also allowthe environmental impact-based approaches discussed and suggested hereinto be offered as services. For example, an electronic retailer mightwant to offer customers the ability to choose environmentally friendlyshipping options. In such a situation, the retailer could subscribe toone of the services, then for any order or transaction the retailercould provide item information and the service could respond back withinformation such as shipping options, packaging options, impactinformation, etc. The retailer then can use the information to providethe shipping options to the customer, or can use the service to obtainthe shipping (such as by forwarding information to a carrier for thetransaction and then charging the retailer for providing the service). Aretailer could pay a monthly or annual subscription fee, for example, orcould pay on a per-transaction basis, kilobyte basis, or any otherappropriate metric.

Such a retailer also can subscribe to such a service for item-specificimpact information. For example, when a retailer receives a query withitem information, the retailer could send information for the query tothe service and receive back impact information, alternative items,sorted information, or any other type of information discussed orsuggested herein for such purposes.

Although certain embodiments described above are described with respectto physical items, the methods and systems can be equally applied toitems that are electronically fulfilled. For example, a user may bepresented with the environmental impact information associated with thedelivery of a physical medium containing a movie (e.g., a DVD, Blu-Raydisc, etc.) versus the environmental impact of the delivery of a moviedownloaded or streamed to a user's selected client device over anetwork, such as the Internet.

As discussed above, the various embodiments can be implemented in a widevariety of operating environments, which in some cases can include oneor more user computers, computing devices, or processing devices whichcan be used to operate any of a number of applications. User or clientdevices can include any of a number of general purpose personalcomputers, such as desktop or laptop computers running a standardoperating system, as well as cellular, wireless, and handheld devicesrunning mobile software and capable of supporting a number of networkingand messaging protocols. Such a system also can include a number ofworkstations running any of a variety of commercially-availableoperating systems and other known applications for purposes such asdevelopment and database management. These devices also can includeother electronic devices, such as dumb terminals, thin-clients, gamingsystems, and other devices capable of communicating via a network.

Most embodiments utilize at least one network that would be familiar tothose skilled in the art for supporting communications using any of avariety of commercially-available protocols, such as TCP/IP, OSI, FTP,UPnP, NFS, CIFS, and AppleTalk. The network can be, for example, a localarea network, a wide-area network, a virtual private network, theInternet, an intranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network,an infrared network, a wireless network, and any combination thereof.

In embodiments utilizing a Web server, the Web server can run any of avariety of server or mid-tier applications, including HTTP servers, FTPservers, CGI servers, data servers, Java servers, and businessapplication servers. The server(s) also may be capable of executingprograms or scripts in response requests from user devices, such as byexecuting one or more Web applications that may be implemented as one ormore scripts or programs written in any programming language, such asJava®, C, C# or C++, or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, orTCL, as well as combinations thereof. The server(s) may also includedatabase servers, including without limitation those commerciallyavailable from Oracle®, Microsoft®, Sybase®, and IBM®.

The environment can include a variety of data stores and other memoryand storage media as discussed above. These can reside in a variety oflocations, such as on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) oneor more of the computers or remote from any or all of the computersacross the network. In a particular set of embodiments, the informationmay reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”) familiar to those skilledin the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functionsattributed to the computers, servers, or other network devices may bestored locally and/or remotely, as appropriate. Where a system includescomputerized devices, each such device can include hardware elementsthat may be electrically coupled via a bus, the elements including, forexample, at least one central processing unit (CPU), at least one inputdevice (e.g., a mouse, keyboard, controller, touch screen, or keypad),and at least one output device (e.g., a display device, printer, orspeaker). Such a system may also include one or more storage devices,such as disk drives, optical storage devices, and solid-state storagedevices such as random access memory (“RAM”) or read-only memory(“ROM”), as well as removable media devices, memory cards, flash cards,etc.

Such devices also can include a computer-readable storage media reader,a communications device (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless orwired), an infrared communication device, etc.), and working memory asdescribed above. The computer-readable storage media reader can beconnected with, or configured to receive, a computer-readable storagemedium, representing remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storagedevices as well as storage media for temporarily and/or more permanentlycontaining, storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readableinformation. The system and various devices also typically will includea number of software applications, modules, services, or other elementslocated within at least one working memory device, including anoperating system and application programs, such as a client applicationor Web browser. It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments mayhave numerous variations from that described above. For example,customized hardware might also be used and/or particular elements mightbe implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, suchas applets), or both. Further, connection to other computing devicessuch as network input/output devices may be employed.

Storage media and computer readable media for containing code, orportions of code, can include any appropriate media known or used in theart, including storage media and communication media, such as but notlimited to volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data, including RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memoryor other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed bythe a system device. Based on the disclosure and teachings providedherein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate other waysand/or methods to implement the various embodiments.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereuntowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of offsetting anenvironmental impact of an electronic transaction for a user,comprising: under control of one or more computer systems configuredwith executable instructions, receiving a request from the user toobtain at least one item as part of an electronic transaction;determining, by the one or more computer systems, item-specificenvironmental impact information for each item, the item-specificenvironmental impact information being determined at least in part usingat least one of a type of material or a volume of the item; determining,by the one or more computer systems, packaging-specific environmentalimpact information for the electronic transaction, thepackaging-specific environmental impact information being determined atleast in part using an amount or a type of packaging for the at leastone item; determining, by the one or more computer systems,shipping-specific environmental impact information for the electronictransaction, the shipping-specific environmental impact informationbeing determined at least in part using a number of deliveries or anoverall distance of delivery for the at least one item; and allocating,by the one or more computer systems, a number of environmental creditsto offset the environmental impact of the electronic transaction basedat least in part upon the item-specific, packaging-specific, andshipping-specific environmental impact information, wherein the user isable to obtain an electronic transaction that has substantially zero netenvironmental impact for at least the determined types of environmentalimpact information.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the number of environmental credits is allocated automaticallyas part of the electronic transaction.
 3. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: determining electronicmarketplace-specific environmental impact information based at least inpart upon the use of the electronic marketplace by the user.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determiningmanufacturing-specific environmental impact information based at leastin part upon a manufacturing process or type of manufacturing facilityfor each item.
 5. A computer-implemented method of offsetting anenvironmental impact of an electronic transaction for a user,comprising: under control of one or more computer systems configuredwith executable instructions, receiving a request from the user toobtain at least one item as part of an electronic transaction;determining, by the one or more computer systems, an environmentalimpact of the electronic transaction, the one or more computer systemsbeing capable of determining the environmental impact at least in partusing information about the at least one item, packaging for the atleast one item, shipping for the at least one item, and manufacture ofthe at least one item; and allocating, by the one or more computersystems, for the electronic transaction an amount of environmentaloffsets substantially corresponding to the determined environmentalimpact of the electronic transaction, wherein the user is able to obtainthe at least one item with minimal net environmental impact.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the allocating is doneautomatically by a provider of the electronic marketplace or in responseto a selection by the user.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim5, further comprising: displaying environmental impact information aboutthe electronic transaction to the user; and enabling the user to selectoptions to minimize the environmental impact before completing thetransaction and allocating the amount of environmental offsets.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the environmental impactfor the at least one item includes at least one of an amount of recycledmaterial, an amount of recyclable or non-biodegradable material, aneffective landfill volume, a carbon footprint resulting from manufactureof each item, a delivery impact from the manufacturer of each item to astorage location, and an operational impact of the item.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the environmental impactfor shipping for the at least one item includes at least one of a carbonoutput of each delivery vehicle to be used for the transaction, a typeof delivery vehicle, a number of delivery vehicles needed, a number oftrips needed, and a total travel distance for the number of deliveries.10. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein theenvironmental impact for packaging the at least one item includes anamount of recycled material, an amount of recyclable ornon-biodegradable material, an effective landfill volume, a carbonfootprint resulting from manufacture of the packaging, an overallpackaging volume, and a number of packages needed.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein at least a portion ofthe environmental offsets are purchased by the provider of theelectronic marketplace or the user.
 12. The computer-implemented methodof claim 5, wherein the user is able to input information aboutenvironmental offsets obtained by the user separate from the electronictransaction that are able to be allocated to the electronic transaction.13. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein there are aplurality of types of environmental impact information available, andthe user is able to select at least one of those types to be used indetermining the environmental impact for the electronic transaction. 14.A system for offsetting an environmental impact of an electronictransaction, comprising a processor; and memory including instructionsthat, when executed by the processor, cause the system to: receive arequest to obtain at least one item as part of an electronictransaction; determine an environmental impact of the electronictransaction, the instructions when executed cause the system to becapable of determining the environmental impact at least in part usinginformation about the at least one item, packaging for the at least oneitem, shipping for the at least one item, and manufacture of the atleast one item; and allocate for the electronic transaction an amount ofenvironmental offsets substantially corresponding to the determinedenvironmental impact of the electronic transaction, wherein the at leastone item is capable of being provided with minimal net environmentalimpact.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the allocating is doneautomatically by a provider of the electronic marketplace or in responseto a selection by the user.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein theinstructions when executed further cause the system to: displayenvironmental impact information about the electronic transaction to theuser; and enable the user to select options to minimize theenvironmental impact before completing the transaction and allocatingthe amount of environmental offsets.
 17. The system of claim 14, whereinthere are a plurality of types of environmental impact informationavailable, and the user is able to select at least one of those types tobe used in determining the environmental impact for the electronictransaction.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumincluding instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause theprocessor to: receive a request to obtain at least one item as part ofan electronic transaction; determine an environmental impact of theelectronic transaction, the instructions when executed cause theprocessor to be capable of determining the environmental impact at leastin part using information about the at least one item, packaging for theat least one item, shipping for the at least one item, and manufactureof the at least one item; and allocate for the electronic transaction anamount of environmental offsets substantially corresponding to thedetermined environmental impact of the electronic transaction, whereinthe at least one item is capable of being provided with minimal netenvironmental impact.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 18, wherein the allocating is done automatically by aprovider of the electronic marketplace or in response to a selection bythe user.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 18, wherein the instructions when executed further cause theprocessor to: display environmental impact information about theelectronic transaction to the user; and enable the user to selectoptions to minimize the environmental impact before completing thetransaction and allocating the amount of environmental offsets.